Alexey Leonov was a Soviet cosmonaut who conducted the first extravehicular activity, or space walk. His walk lasted for 12 minutes and the only way he could control his motion was by pulling his tether. Also, Leonov was an artist and brought colored pencils and paper into space, sketching the Earth. Leonov pointed out to Arthur C. Clarke that during the screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the scene that included the alignment of the moon, earth and sun looked very similar to his painting "Near the Moon".

When touched, the painting lets a person project their mind into outer space and view the earth and surrounding cosmic neighbors. The downside is that the person's body will become weightless and can float away if not tied down.